Arizona secretary of state: "Of course, we’re going to count all the votes"

November 5, 2020

(CNN) - Reacting to protests outside the election facility where votes are being counted, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs reiterated that officials will be counting all the votes that were cast in the state.

“I don’t understand the objective of these protesters. Of course, we’re going to count all the votes. We are legally obligated to do that,” Hobbs said in an interview with NBC this morning.

She added that election workers in the county "have been working around the clock to get these ballots counted" and that "they're going to do their jobs whether or not there's protesters outside urging them to do that."

Hobbs said there are approximately 450,000 ballots left for the state to count – about 300,000 of those coming from Maricopa County alone. Former Vice President Joe Biden currently holds a narrow lead of more than 68,000 votes over President Donald Trump in the state.

Hobbs did not have an estimate yet on how long it would take for the remaining ballots to be counted.

Those ballots are "early ballots that voters dropped off on election day at polling places," she said adding "they're in the process of being signature verified before they can be tabulated."

She also debunked an online conspiracy theory known as "Sharpiegate,” where it's being claimed the state is invalidating ballots filled out with sharpies.

"There really is no merit to this," Hobbs said. "It’s a conspiracy theory, that people were given pens to deliberately invalidate their ballot. That is absolutely not happening.”